The Princess and the Guard
by Ninja Mare
Summary: Twilight is troubled by her new title and is constantly driving herself to sleep deprivation every night since her coronation. Princess Celestia is worried about her, so she sends a personal guard for her. Flash Sentry. Cute moments, arguments, funny situations and romance are now in the life of the new princess. Until she is called to Canterlot because of a new threat to Equestria
1. Late study nights

Twilight knew she should stop staying up late at night. Lying on the not so comfortable wooden floor surrounded by thick magic books and scrolls in different fields of studies.

Her eyes were heavy and her body begged for rest. But the alicorn ignored her tiredness and tried to keep reading her thick book, the room was light by just candles gave the place a sleepy atmosphere. Spike had tried to take her to her room several times, but had failed as always, to get Twilight out of her studies was almost impossible, only _she_ gave herself permission to rest, something she had not done since the acquisition of her new 'princess' title.

This new responsibility had led her to the conclusion that she should put more effort into her studies and should do more in her research about magic in all possible fields, if that was not enough, having wings made her study the magic involved with the Pegasi, investigating how they were able to walk on clouds, what gave them the ability to manipulate them, the process of creating storms, rainbows and more.

Apart from her studies Twilight had to learn to fly and exercise full control over her wings.

Rainbow dash had tried to teach her to fly several times but a Pegasus, who naturally had the ability to fly, which had the opportunity to practice for years since childhood, was not be able to understand that flying was something complicated, strange and almost impossible for a pony that had been a unicorn since birth, in other words, a pony that didn't feel flying a natural thing.

Rainbow was not the most patient for the task, so she stopped trying to teach Twilight.

Twilight had stopped reading her for a while now, her eyes just followed the words without reading them and her head slowly fell down, letting it rest on her thick book.

Strong heavy whooves alerted Twilight who immediately went back to reading her book.

"Princess! What are you doing awake at this hour, you must rest!" The Pegasus stallion said with a gentle but authoritative voice.

"I still have one chapter more, it'll end soon, I promise," Twilight said in a tired voice, not bothering to look at her companion.

The stallion frowned; shaking his head he stood in front of the great book that Twilight was reading and kept insisting.

"Princess, your health is more important than any study, if you continue like that you could get sick, you can continue with the chapter tomorrow okay?"

Twilight let out a big sigh, looking up she found the big orange stallion stripped of his golden Royal Guard armor, exposing his messy blue mane and muscular body covered with old scars hidden in his orange coat.

And then she pouted.

"You should not worry so much for me, I've done this a long time and I never got sick," she protested.

The guard looked at her with worried eyes.

"Princess..."

"Stop calling me princess, it is still very weird for me and you're not wearing your armor and I'm not wearing my crown, so there is no need for titles-."

The Pegasus let out a big sigh, ignoring Twilights obsessive study habits, he placed his hoof on Twilights book and pushed until it was out of sight.

"_Hey..._" Twilight protested, rising suddenly, sleep making her wobble on her legs.

The stallion held her preventing her from falling, his wings protectively wrapping her smaller body, gluing her to his chest.

"See? You cannot even stand properly, your body is asking for rest," he said.

"But..." Twilight resisted his logic. Failing miserably in the process.

"Armor or not I am your royal guard and is my job to protect and assist you in whatever you need, you need rest and like it or not. It's my job to keep you safe, and making you sleep at a decent hour is part of my job too," he replied.

The Pegasus instinctively raised his hoof fixing part of Twilights messy mane. She blushed at the gesture and let out a big yawn.

Flash Sentry smiled warmly and placed her in his back, Twilight let herself to be carried to her room without any complaint. She surrendered herself to fatigue, she felt herself being gently placed in her bed and wrapped in a blanket.

"Rest princess," said the stallion heading back to the stairs, promptly disobeying Twilights wishes.

"Flash..." Twilight said opening her eyes.

The Pegasus turned and sat at the foot of the bed.

"Is it hard being a royal guard?" She asked sleepily, yawning at the end.

"Well sometimes it is and sometimes not, to stand hours at a place doing nothing sometimes becomes boring, training is hard and tiring, fighting with hydras, Timberwolves and some other weird creature gives you wounds but in the end I would not change it for anything, because I know I will protect others."

Twilight listened carefully.

"Ever thought of leaving your responsibilities and just do what you want?"

Flash thought for a moment, then gave a small satisfied smile.

"No... my decisions and actions have taken me through pain and fatigue, but also gave me happiness and satisfaction with myself. I like to be useful and necessary for the princesses and for you, after all I wouldn't have accepted being you're personal royal guard if I wouldn't have wanted to."

Twilight smiled.

"And I wouldn't have wanted any other guard."

"I wouldn't have wanted any other princess,"replied the Pegasus with a warm, gentle smile.

Twilight closed her eyes and drove herself to sleep. Flash contemplated the beautiful mare for a few more minutes and then nuzzled her mane.

"Rest... my Princess."

He slowly went down the stairs in silence

Twilight smiled opening her eyes for the last time, taking one last look at the handsome, orange stallion going down the stairs.

"Rest... my Royal Guard."

Flash fetched his armor and stood at his post, in front of Twilights door. He was not able to take his smile off of his face.

"Oh Celestia… what have I gotten myself into?" Asked the tired Pegasus stallion to himself.


	2. The Boundaries

Mornings were slow in the library, Twilight woke up slowly, taking her time in everything she did to get ready. Anypony would assume that a princess who is also a scientist would wake up super early and immediately start working again, but Twilight, following Flash´s advice of keeping her studies at a regular level decided to take things slow for a while.

She woke up and stayed in bed for a while, taking in the bright sunlight mixing with the colors of the wooden walls. Stretching her wings and flapping them lightly, she moved to her mirror and hummed a tune while combing her mane.

After that she brushed her teeth and stayed in her bed reading fantasy novels and romance stories. Downstairs Spike did his chores as always, fixing old books, re-shelving, cleaning, sweeping, dusting, cooking and after that just lazed around the living room.

The Pegasus stallion stood outside Twilight´s door, heavy golden armor on him. The stallion was the only one who woke up early. Faithfull to his duty, he woke up every day at 4am, cooked some meal for himself, put on his armor and stood in front of Twilight´s door waiting her to come out.

Twilight came out of her room with a big smile on her face.

"Good morning princess, you look pretty happy" said the armored stallion.

"Well, following your advice, I stopped studying hard at nights and decided to stay a little more time in bed every day." Twilight said while going down the stairs, smelling the sweet scent of food prepared by Spike, her smile grew wider.

"I´m glad that you changed your studying hours" said Flash following her to the stairs.

"I couldn't let you stay up for me anymore, you do look tired, are you sure you have to wake up at 4am every morning?" Twilight said sitting on her favorite cushion and pouring down fresh orange juice in a glass.

The stallion smiled. "It´s part of my job princess; I have to be up early in case something happens or if you need my assistance".

Twilight chuckled.

"Why would I need your assistance at 4am? I´m asleep at that hour" The stallion answered her with a calm serious face.

"Trust me princess, there will be a moment where you will need me, and I'll be there for you"

Twilight smiled and blushed a little. Trying to ignore the butterflies in her stomach she ate her breakfast.

"Good morning Twilight, good morning Flash!" said the baby dragon coming out of the kitchen in his pink fluffy apron.

Twilight and Flash greeted the dragon.

"So… what are we going to do today?,a trip to sugar cube corner?, adventure with Zekora at the Everfree forest?." Said the purple baby dragon eating a handful of tiny gems mixed with milk in a bowl.

The mare looked at him a little bit confused.

"Why this sudden need of adventure?" asked Twilight.

"We have been stuck inside the library for three days now!. I´m bored"

Twilight realized that she had been locked inside her library for three days without going out.

"Wow! I've been studying like crazy for three days?" Twilight shouted in a high pitched voice.

Flash wanted to laugh, but his position did not allow him to.

"That is correct princess, If I may suggest, it would be refreshing for yourself to go out and have fun with your friends."

Twilight looked at the orange armored stallion and smiled at him, a realization streaked her mind.

"OH CELESTIA! WE DIDN'T SETTLE YOU DOWN HERE, YOU DON'T HAVE CLOTHES, A ROOM … BY LUNA… YOU DON'T EVEN HAVE ANYTHING TO ENTERTAIN YOURSELF!" Twilight went completely crazy; she rushed to her room stumbling in the stairs, her wings flapping on their own, creating currents of air that threw the books from a nearby shelf.

"She really needs to gain more control over her wings" Flash said to Spike with an amused look in his face.

"Well good luck on that" Spike said fixing the messy table.

"uuuhh…. What do you mean?" the orange Pegasus asked.

" well, Rainbow Dash can´t teach her, Fluttershy is afraid she might give her a bad coaching due to her being scared of heights and all the Pegasi teachers are busy or live up in cloudsdale, that leaves only you big guy, you have to teach her how to gain full control over her wings" Spike looked at the stallions reaccion.

"What!, I´m not a teacher, I never taught anypony how to fly! Besides, flying for mares and for stallions requires different techniques!" Flash said.

Spike looked confused.

"What do you mean? "

"Stallions are bigger, bigger bones, bigger wings, it´s harder for us to learn how to fly. Mares are lighter, it´s easier for them to fly, even If I get her off the ground I wouldn't be able to teach her the techniques"

Spiked smiled at him.

" you're over thinking this too much, we're talking about Twilight Sparkle here, the smartest pony ever, I´m sure she will figure out a way to convert stallion flight techniques to mare ones."

Spike disappeared through the kitchen door, leaving the orange stallion over thinking his new task.

"How the buck I´m going to teach a mare how to fly!?"

Before he could say more of his thoughts out loud Twilight ran down the stairs with her saddle bag full of bits Celestia had gave her for expenses like this.

"OK! I'm ready, you're ready?! We have to go before that market gets stuffed with ponies"

The stallion followed the mare hesitantly.

"Princess what is exactly what you're going to do with a bag full of bits?"

The lavender alicorn turned her crazy expressive face to the stallion.

"Didn't you listen to me? all you brought here is a lousy toothbrush a comb and your armor!" we have to get you stuff for the spare room in the library, we'll make that your room now"

Twilight opened the door magically, stepping out followed closely by the surprised guard.

" your highness, I don't think it´s right for you to buy things for my comfort, it´s a terrible idea!, you need to understand that there are new boundaries with your new position. You may see this as a nice gesture for a friend, but you have to understand that you're not a regular pony anymore, I´m your guard, you're a princess, princess's don't buy stuff for their guards"

Twilight looked at him with a blank face, as soon as the orange pegasus finished talking she smiled warmly at him.

"Look I know that it looks weird, I know that is something even Celestia would not approve, but you're my guard, not hers, you are my first royal guard"

Twilight placed her hoof on the Flash´s emblem, instead of the normal blue star, a six pointed sparkle adorned the stallion's armor, a symbol that showed that he was loyal to Twilight more than he was to Celestia.

"Letting the whole princess and guard relationship boundaries aside, you ARE my friend, a friend that has nothing a pony needs; I will not let my guard sleep on a blanket in an empty room no more"

Flash smiled.

"Ok princess I'll follow your wishes" the stallion said following Twilight to the street market.

"Can't you leave your armor at home?"

"Don't push it princess"

"Ok... ok, you prideful stallion"


	3. Feeling the Music

Flash admired his new room, a comfy bed with a red blanket and a big mushy pillow, a furry rug to lay down and a shelf for books and other personal belongings. The walls were only decorated by a poster of his favorite band IRON MAREDEN. Looking at the poster he started to remember his colthood.

A little Pegasus colt with no worries and lots of dreams, living in the Pegasus neighborhood in Canterlot, he was always very friendly with his classmates and was never bullied, he never had any difficulties in making friends, but he wasn't very social, being good at sports and with math, he was admired by everyone, but he never liked the attention.

He knew he had a lot of friends, but he knew who of his so called friends were REALLY. When he was old enough to be called a young stallion, he started to gain interest in rock music. Most of the ponies did not enjoy heavy rock, but he loved it. The energy in the music, the electric sound of the guitar, the lyrics talking about power and freedom, made him feel powerful and free, almost as he could do anything.

His best friend was an orange unicorn mare with a mane that looked like fire, she had a wonderful personality, but she always acted different with ponies who didn't agree with her, sharing the same taste in music, they felt the same passion for it, Flash knew she was not very nice with other ponies, he tried to make her understand she was acting like a bully, but only got to be treated the same, so he stopped hanging out with her.

Flying through the sky he listened his favorite songs in his head, replaying them over and over again, loving the sensation the music gave him, he felt no more fear when doing crazy loops in the air. The music almost felt like a storm that was Flash´s favorite and most dangerous hobby, flying in to a storm while replaying his favorite songs in his head to gain power and control over his wings to surpass the tornados and thunders. In one of these crazy flying sessions he gained his cutie mark.

Flash grew to be a big strong Pegasus, perfectly fitted for the royal guard, He didn't find anything else to do with his life more than enlisting himself for the royal guard and listening to his favorite music. Pegasi stallions were not always big and strong as an earth pony, keeping their bodies slim with light hooves, there were more fit for weather work. The Pegasi with a big body constitution resembling an earth pony were few but not rare, with an earth pony's strength and the ability to fly and manipulate weather, they were always encouraged to be guards instead of weather ponies.

So that´s what Flash did, if his strength was needed, he was happy to provide it and serve to the princess with pride and joy.

Flash smiled at his poster, the picture lighted memories of his first year as a royal guard in the Canterlot castle. He remembered the first time he tried his armor, one year of heavy training made the heavy metal suit feel as light as a feather to him, he was asked if he wanted a camouflage spell with his armor, this would mask his true colors while wearing it to protect his identity in case enemies would go after him or his family. Flash didn't accept it, he had no family, no marefirend and the idea of looking different made him feel weird.

Working at the castle was a little bit boring, standing near doors, guarding meetings and pulling the royal carriage was something he had to do every day. He loved his job when the princess had to travel to nearby kingdoms, he was able to stretch his wings and fight rebel gryphon, hydras, dragons and other creatures who dared to think of harming the princess. He received a lot of superficial wounds, he didn't care about them at all, not when he was able to fight powerful creatures like the lyrics of his favorite songs told. He loved the adrenaline; he felt power and control, hearing the music in his head while fighting.

"Flash, Spike made cupcakes, would you like some?" Twilight said, poking her head through the open door.

"I would like that princess thank you"

Twilight looked at the poster he was admiring; it was the poster they bought at the music store.

"Wow, now that I look at it carefully, it seems that your taste in music is pretty heavy"

Flash chuckled

"Is not that heavy princess, but I do have to admit, it´s not for everypony"

Twilight frowned, studying the stallions that appeared in the poster, they all looked angry, long messy manes, black spiky accessories.

"They look a little bit creepy" Twilight said staring at the picture.

"Not a lot of mares understand it… it´s mostly… a stallion's type of music"

Twilight gasped in surprise….. There were mares who liked this? Rainbow Dash appeared in her head, yes…. she looked like the type of mare who would enjoy this kind of music.

"I can think of a mare that would enjoy it" Twilight said while walking to the kitchen.

Flash followed her.

"Have you ever listened to it?" Flash asked.

Twilight passed him a carrot cupcake.

"Never, I listened to some of my brother´s friend cd's when I was little; it sounded like rage and pure noise that didn't make any sense"

"Not all heavy rock bands sound like that" Flash said while eating another cupcake

"Really?" Twilight asked, she levitated another cupcake to her mouth.

"Yes, there are many types of heavy music, some talk about power freedom and anarchy, others talk about killing and murder but they all share the same basic sound" Flash watched Twilight´s face and tried not to laugh.

"There are songs about killing and murder?" Twilight asked in a high pitched voice.

Flash blushed a little, he wasn't exactly defending his type of music.

"Yea…umm, there are"

Twilight frowned.

"And ponies like this?"

"uuumm, yea…. some" Flash started to get nervous, Twilights started to look angry.

"And you tell me that…. There are mares that like it to?"

"I never met a mare who liked that particular topic in songs, but I suppose there are"

Twilight stood close to him, sticking her face out, glaring at the stallion with her big angry purple eyes.

"Do you like it?" she asked with a deadly voice.

"I like heavy music, but not the ones who sing about killing and murder"

Twilight glared at him for a few seconds more, and then she closed her eyes and sighed.

"Ok, I believe you… let's hear one song"

"You want to hear one?" Flash asked, he couldn't hide his surprise, a young super intelligent, scientist princess was asking to hear heavy rock music? He couldn't find an explanation of this being possible.

Bringing his radio he started looking for a song for her to listen, songs about believing in yourself, about feeling free, songs about feeling lonely, lost loves, longing for somebody, finally Flash knew what song to show her, the one he always listened in his head while flying through a storm.

He pressed play and let the music fill the kitchen, he felt his heart filling with emotions, he felt power, control, freedom and happiness, he looked at the mare standing in front of him, Twilight was still, her eyes were closed, her breathing became calm, she rose her head high, her wings stretched in all their glory, a smile adorned her face.

Flash could not stop looking at her, her face, those long eyelashes, her slim neck, her long silky mane, and her beautiful wings catching the sunlight making her feathers glow with tiny rainbow lights. He felt his heart stop, she was beautiful, she looked like a goddess to him, Twilight felt like the embodiment of the emotions he felt in a storm.

The music ended, Twilight lowered her head, folded her wings and opened her eyes, in them, and Flash could see a new sparkle. With a gentle smile, she looked at him.

"I now understand it" Twilight said, looking at the stallion with bright eyes.

"You looked like you were enjoying it" Flash said, not being able to control his blushing.

Twilight blushed hard, her face turning read.

"Yea.. hehe… I kind of got carried away there"

"That´s what it does, the music generates emotions in you and carries you away with them" Flash said feeling the same emotions he felt when he saw Twilight in all her glory.

"What did you feel?" Flash asked.

Twilight looked at him; she smiled and closed her eyes, carrying a hoof to her heart she said

"I felt complete"

Flash smiled at her, never he have seen her so beautiful, so majestic, he again felt his heart thundering in his chest, in that instant he knew that the song would not remind him of storms anymore, instead it would remind him of the beautiful princess of magic with her head high and outstretched wings catching the sunlight, gleaming in her fur and feathers….. And the love he felt for her.


	4. Flying Lessons

Flying was hard… it was harder than learning magic, and a lot more tiring. At least books never made you sweat. Twilight hated sweating. Flash decided that Spike had had enough of picking books up all day; Twilight didn't control her wings and knocked all the books from a nearby shelf every time she got too excited.

So Flash decided to give Twilight flying lessons, or at least he decided to try.

In a hidden patch of forest the two ponies decided to practice, Flash stripped of his armor to move more freely.

"Ok princess, first we need to get you to control your wings completely, in order for you to do that you need to use them. Your wings are connected directly to your spine and your spine is connected to your brain, your brain controls your body. Now … pegasi foals are slower when learning how to walk and fly, we have six limbs to control, so it´s a little bit harder."

Twilight tried to calm down; she was so nervous her wings sticked to her frame like they were glued to her body.

"Princess copy me ok?" Flash unfolded his wings and stretched them to their full extent.

Twilight unfolded her wings as Flash told her.

"Now close your eyes princess, try to feel every single feather, every single bone, you need to complete the connection with your brain"

Twilight closed her eyes she tried to feel her wings, every single feather every single bone.

"You feel them?" Flash asked.

"I think I do"

Flash opened his eyes, Twilight´s wings were vibrating, and he smiled. Twilight´s wings were begging to fly.

"You feel them vibrate?"

"Yes … feels very weird" Twilight answered.

"Good princess, now flap your wings, but gently"

Twilight obeyed, slowly and gently she started to flap her wings.

"Excellent princess, flap them a little faster"

Twilight flapped them faster; she felt her body being lifted from the ground.

"I´m doing it! I´m flying!" Twilight was no longer touching the ground, her whole body suspended in mid air, Flash smiled calmly at her. For a pegasi a first flight was something unique, but for a pony who earned its wings a first flight was something almost unimaginable.

Flash took off, joining Twilight in the air.

"Now you control your wings princess, congratulations. For the next step we gain altitude" Flash took Twilight´s hoof in to his, leading her up in the air.

"Uhhh… Flash I'm not sure I…"

"You'll be fine princess… trust me" Twilight looked at Flash´s eyes; in them she saw a spark.

Twilight smiled at him. They flew slowly to a low cloud and sat there. Twilight looked down, the ground seemed to be far away, she felt weird watching the ground, and it almost looked like a picture of green and brown patches.

"Ok princess, you're making big progress, now we will try to get you to that cloud over there, but this time you will do it alone ok?, I´ll be flying right next to you, this time you will have to add more force to your flapping "

Twilight frowned.

"Alone?! I´ll fall!, no… I don't want to do it alone…. It´s too high"

Flash sighed. Smiling at Twilight he looked at her and calmed her with a gentle voice.

"Princess, calm down. It´s not that high, and I´ll be right next to you"

Twilight took a deep breath, closing her eyes she repeated the same steps, slowly she took off from the cloud, she opened her eyes in mid air, Flash was right in front of her. She flapped harder, trying to focus on the cloud over her head. The cloud became closer and closer, regaining her confidence she flapped her wings harder gaining speed, just when she was about to reach the cloud she felt wings heavy, she became tired and she was starting to loose paising.

"Princess, do not force your wings, regain your paising, if you add too much force you´ll get tired" Flash took her hoof in his, if she got too tired her wings would instantly unfold to her body. Twilight tried to pick up a gentler page, it was hard, and she started panting. Flash´s hoof tighten around Twilight's.

"It´s ok princess, relax… breathe … you know you can do this… focus on your wings"

Twilight listened to Flash´s soothing voice, she closed her eyes, taking a deep breath and holding it she remembered the pacing, slowly she regained control and started to move upwards to the cloud. She landed on the mushy surface with a big smile filled with confidence.

"I did it!... well you still had to hold my hoof, but still I did it!" Twilight jumped up and down in glee.

Flash smiled, he still had to teach her a lot more, but watching her so happy made him feel warm inside.

"Keep your own pacing in mind while you're flying, until it becomes natural to you you'll have to do that"

Twilight sat on the cloud catching her breath.

"You are a very good teacher Flash Sentry, it is an honor to be your first student" Twilight said, overacting her voice in a theatrical way.

Flash laughed silently.

After a few minutes of relaxing on the cloud, Twilight lifted her head up; a big patch of cloud floated a little bit too far in the air. Twilight started to think. She looked at Flash, who was resting with his eyes closed; Twilight looked at the cloud again. If she could fly to that cloud without Flash´s help she could continue to the next step in flying lessons.

Slowly she stood up, not making a single noise she flapped her wings carefully, she flew up and up silently, repeating her pacing in her head, concentrating all she could she started to fly to the big cloud. She smiled, full of confidence and feeling proud about herself she dared to add more force to her wings; she was now too high that the trees looked like green dots and the crops looked like squared shaped patches of different types of green.

She was almost there; she pictured her guard´s face filled with amazement, a pony that could fly this high in its first lesson, of course not any type of pony, an alicorn.

Twilight became overpowered by her pride and confidence. Of course she could do it!, she was an alicorn, the most powerful type of pony, the princess of magic herself, flying to that cloud should not even be a little bit hard…

Suddenly…

Twilight felt her wings heavy…..

She was flapping them too hard…

She held her breath…

…..

…..

Her heart stopped…..

….

….

Her mind froze…..

…..

…..

And so did her wings.

She felt herself falling, pulled by gravity, she watched as the cloud becoming tinier. She couldn't scream, she couldn't move.

She wanted to scream. She wanted to call her guard´s name but her body refused to move. She felt tears in her eyes. She felt her heart thundering in her chest, her vision started to blur. The shock overcame her mind.

Darkness invaded her eyes, a moment before the slipped into nothingness she heard her name being yelled in despair.

"TWILIGHT!"

She woke up with a headache, her body felt weird and her wings hurt, her legs felt numb. She felt a wing covering her, her head rested against a furry muscular chest, it´s heart beating fast; she opened her eyes and looked at her guard´s face. Flash had a very serious face, frowning deeply, his breathing was long and slow trying to calm himself down.

His left wing covered Twilight´s body in a tight grip; he could not get the picture of Twilight´s body falling unconsciously to the ground. It didn't feel right for him letting go yet.

Twilight blushed heavily, not because she was strongly held by her guard in a very protective way, but because she couldn't bare the shame she felt. She had disobeyed her guard´s advice, she had let herself been overpowered by her pride, she became too confident. She acted recklessly like a spoiled filly; she thought that just because of being an alicorn she would have been better in flying….. She was so wrong. Her reckless actions almost led her to certain death if Flash´s instincts hadn't told him something bad was happening.

Flash gave her a hurt look, folding his wing, he uncovered Twilight´s body.

"Maybe this will make you follow future instructions princess" Flash looked at Twilight´s wings and so did Twilight.

She gasped in horror, her beautiful wings were twisted, and her feathers were messy and sticking out in weird angles.

"The air pressure created by your fall hurt them enough, do not worry princess, they did not break…. But they were almost about to" Flash spoke in a low pitched voice, filled with concerned and anger.

He stood up immediately followed by Twilight who couldn't look at his face.

"Let´s go home princess, we need to take care of your wings" Flash said dryly.

Flash walked a few steps ahead of Twilight, he stomped his hooves heavily in the ground applying great force pushing the ground with his heavy hooves. He needed to cool down, he was too angry and he didn't want her to notice, he heard Twilight´s hooves following him. She had been naïve, foolish, reckless. What she did was beyond stupid. The image of Twilight falling, the feeling of her tears in his face as he dived to catch her, the feeling of her lifeless body as he finally cached her. All that mixed up with his anger made him feel awful, he wanted to break something, he wanted to yell at her, to tell her how stupid the thing she had done was, he wanted to hug her, wrap her with his wings tightly to feel that she was still there, alive and safe.

The trip back home was dense, silent and it felt longer that it actually was. Spike greeted them with a happy face but the minute he saw Flash´s angry face with his muscles tense and Twilights ashamed face with her eyes looking at the floor, he knew that the best thing he could do was to stay silent.

The second he saw Twilight´s wings he went to the kitchen for the emergency kit. Flash couldn't look at her yet, he was too angry. Following Spike he tried to calm down. Twilight looked at the stallions back; his muscles were extremely tensed up. She filled herself with courage and spoke in a low voice.

"I'm sorry" her voice cracked at the end. Flash stopped, still not looking at her.

"What I did was stupid, I thought I could do it, I…I wanted to surprise you, I wasn't thinking through…uuumm…are…are you angry?"

Flash listened carefully at Twilight´s voice; he could feel how sorry she was. He sighed heavily letting all the air out of his body.

"Just…. A little"

Flash left her alone. Twilight did not know what to do, or what to say.

"What happened?... is she ok?" Spike asked worriedly.

"She´s fine, I'll tell you later" Flash dryly responded.

"Are you ok?" Spike asked him, noticing again his tensed body.

Flash filled his lungs with air.

"I will be" he grabbed the emergency kit and left the kitchen.

Twilight tensed up when she saw him; she silently stood still while Flash carefully wrapped her wings to her body with bandages.

She couldn't hold it anymore.

Turning her body, facing her guard, looking directly into his eyes, she buried her face into the stallion's chest, her eyes flowing with big tears.

"I´m so so so sorry!, what I did was stupid, beyond stupid!, please don't be mad. It was so scary, I couldn't move, I wanted to yell, but I froze!...I….I…"

Flash covered her with his wings pressing her body against his, lowering himself; he rested his head on top of Twiligh´s.

"Shhh…It´s ok princess you're safe now… I…I'm not angry…just a little tense" Flash calmed Twilight

He could feel Twilight´s sobbing calming down. He realized how scared she must had felt, how terrifying must have been to be so shocked, so scared that she couldn't even move or control her mind. Knowing that if she didn't she would die.

After a while Twilight finally calmed down and stopped crying.

"Before I fainted… you screamed my name right?... It was you?" Twilight looked at her guard who blushed furiously.

"You scared me to hard princess, I forgot protocol"

"I have to almost die to get you to say my name?" Twilight joked feeling a lot more loosen up.

Flash ignored her question, knowing that she was joking.

"Time for bed princess, no studying for at least two weeks until your wings heal"

"What!, are you punishing me?!" Flash did not listen to her complaints, he smiled. Finally he was calm and Twilight was back to herself, he knew that it would be a while before another lesson, the healing and the shock would be a problem.

"Yes princess" Flash said in an authoritative voice, whipping the remaining tears of Twilight's face with his wings.

"I´m not a filly, you can't punish me!"

"I´m your guard, my job is to protect you from others and from yourself in some cases… this is one of those cases…. Do not argue princess and go to rest" Flash pushed Twilight to the stairs with his right wing.

"Ok…ok….. Can I read one more chapter before?"

"Princess"

"Ok ok… I get ….. Good night"

"Rest princess"

Flash watched Twilight disappearing through the stairs, the minute he heard her door close, his body felt numb, his muscles untensed, his wings hurt, his legs went numb. He let his body fall to the ground in a loud thump.

"For Celestia´s plot….. That was too much" he silently said to himself.

Spike poked his head through the kitchen door.

"Flash… are you ok?"

"Spike … do you have some strong cider in there?"

The dragon nodded.


	5. More Than a Guard

Twilight hated to spend all her day in bed. It was something she thought was one of the most boring things to do. Flash had dragged her back to her bed every time she got out of her room. She could kick, hit and do whatever she could to free herself from his wings grip, but Flash would still take her no matter what.

The first week passed slowly and painfully for her, without heavy reading fantasy novels were not enough reading material to calm her. Spike had been backing up Flash all along, so she was alone. Or so she thought.

One the Monday of the second weekend she secretly wrote a letter to every single one of her friends sending her pet owl to deliver them. She smiled victoriously; soon the guard would not have enough strength to stop her from doing her studies.

Flash guarded Twilight´s door every three hours, then he would enter her room and make her stretch her wings 10 times. Twilight hated this, her wings felt weird because of being stuck to her body wrapped in bandages, unfolding them were a little painful, but Flash had told her she must do this otherwise her wings would not heal properly.

"It´s been a week since my stupid mistake, I've rested all you wanted, you kept me from reading my books and kept me in here like a prisoner." Twilight said moving her hooves in the air while complaining.

"Princess stay still I can't wrap your wings properly" Flash ignored Twilight´s tantrum.

"You don't even listen to me, all you care about is fulfilling your duty as a guard, can´t you put yourself at my place, imagine if I make you stay in your room for a whole week without your music. How would you feel?"

Flash stopped for a second.

"The reason I'm doing this is for your own good, trust me I know more about wings than you princess, wings are delicate, you have to understand that."

"I've been taking care of myself perfectly fine for a long time, I have read everything I need to know about flight and wings, I assure you, I can take care of myself!"

Flash was about to respond in a louder tone, but a heavy knock interrupted him.

Twilight tried not to laugh. His doom was here; today the bossy guard would fall.

"I'll get that Princess, you stay here. Spike finish this for me please?"

Spike saluted him military style, and continued wrapping Twilight´s wings.

Flash went down stairs; he took his helmet from the book shelf and put it on.

"Identify yourself please" he said.

"I´ll identify myself alright! I´m Rarity, Twilight´s friend and element of generosity and if you don't open this door in this second I'LL RIP OFF YOUR STALLION HOOD!"

Flash felt his ears hurt.

"Rarity, hold your horses. Do you really think he´s going to open the door if you talk to him like that" Said Applejack calming her down.

The guard opened the door, he knew what was coming, he felt himself pushed to the floor. He looked up and saw a very angry white mare staring at him with flames on her eyes.

"Listen you little stallion Pegasus, you better tell me why you have been keeping Twilight locked in her room for a week if you don't want things to get ugly!" Rarity yelled at the guard's face.

"Sugarcube, calm down!" Applejack pulled Rarity off from Flash.

"I'm very sorry, she's just a little…stressed because of Twilight´s letter"

"Flash Sentry ! That´s your name right?!. WOW, HAHAHA! I´m Pinkie Pie, Twilight´s friend to. Hihi!. I hope I can be your friend to. Nopony knows you properly yet, so maybe latter we can make you a welcome party!. Oh… but only if you are not bothering Twilight"

Flash stared amazed at the hyperactive pink pony taking at the speed of light.

"SO YOU'RE THE TOUGH GUY ?!. I thought I would see more for me to handle. Why have you been messing up with Twilight?. Think you can be the boss here big guy?" Rainbow Dash stared at the stallion directly in the eye.

"Mister… why are you bothering Twilight, has she done something wrong?"

Asked a very worried Fluttershy looking at him with big sad puppy dog eyes.

Flash took a moment to digest the situation he was in. A very angry beautiful unicorn with thick eyelashes, a blond maned muscular earth pony with a hat, a sugar high pink pony with a permanent smile on her face, a small cyan Pegasus with a rainbow colored mane and a yellow one with an extremely long mane were barging in the tree house asking if he had bothered Twilight.

He closed his eyes and let out a loud sigh.

"Well played Princess, well played" he mumbled looking at the direction of Twilight´s room.

"Ladies I assure you I have not bothered the Princess in any way. She suffered from a flying accident a week ago and hurt her wings; I made her stay in bed in order for her to heal properly."

"WHAT?!" Yelled all the mares at once.

"She never said anything about being hurt, is she ok?" Applejack asked.

"She is healing quickly and without problems" Flash told her.

"Can we see her?" asked Fluttershy.

"I hate to tell you this miss, but I think the Princess has tricked you to come here. She´s been trying everything to escape from her rest." Flash explained.

"Why would she ever do that?!" Rarity whined.

"To be honest miss… I don't know"

Flash left the girls waiting in the living room, tensing his muscles; he went straight to Twilight´s room.

He opened the door without announcing himself and entered with a frown in his face. Twilight ignored him, combing her mane.

"I thought a guard needed to announce himself after entering the Princess Chambers"

"I have no time for this Princess, this time you have gone too far"

"I had to; you were keeping me here not letting me out. You were overstepping boundaries."

"I was taking care of you, that´s my job, to keep you safe"

"You always say that! But keeping me locked inside is too much!" Twilight wiped her head facing Flash who was standing firm in full armor, listening to her words with a frown on his face.

"Your friends deserve an explanation; they are worried about you Princess, apparently your letter lacked of an explanation for why you have been here for a week."

"Well I wasn´t thinking too much when I wrote it" she said blushing embarrassed.

Twilight left the room silently not looking at the stallion.

"We still have to talk later princess" Flash said in a deep voice.

Twilight didn't answer.

Flash heard Twilight talking to her friends. He relaxed his muscles and took off his helmet.

"I´m sorry I knew she sent the letters, but I she made me promise… I"

"It´s ok Spike I understand" Flash cut him.

Twilight greeted her friends with an embarrassed smile. After all them scared a little over the amount of bandages around her frame she explained why she had written the letters.

"Sweetie we understand that you were feeling trapped in your home and that you were missing us, but you have been locking yourself inside your home weeks ago before this guard came because of your studies." Rarity said.

"Also… isn't that the guard that reminds you of the boy you met in the other world?"Applejack asked.

"He looks like him, but trust me, he is not even close to resembling him" Twilight said frowning.

"Maybe you're acting this way because you like him" Pinkie Pie said calmly.

"WHAT!? No, I did it because he was being overprotective and bossy"

"Twilight, I hate to back him off but he did right keeping you here for a week, your injuries may not look so bad but trust me, taking care of wings is a big thing, injuries are not something to take lightly" Rainbow Dash told her.

"Call us if you need something" Fluttershy said giving her a hug.

"I would give those wigs another week to rest, don't forget to stretch them at least a day" said Rainbow following Fluttershy.

Applejack, Rarity and Pinkie said their goodbyes and left. Twilight sat in the living room for a couple of minutes, she had done it again. She had made a fool out of herself again, acting by an impulse. But she was angry at Flash this time. She didn't feel bad about what she had done, she truly thought he exaggerated.

She went to her room prepared for a discussion with a Royal guard. Instead she found Flash stripped of his armor waiting for her. Spike passed her through the door, giving her a worried look he went down the stairs and disappeared through the kitchen.

She closed the door.

"And your armor?" she asked.

"This time I will play your game princess, no armor, no protocol, so I can say my piece" Flash said turning himself facing Twilight.

"What do you have to say? Everything is fine now, I explained to my friends why I did what I did, made a complete fool of myself and even got lectured."

"OH I do! You humiliated me as a guard with what you did! You left your friends with the impression that I was a joke. That I was bothering you! , trapping you inside your room against your free will like you were really in danger"

"You were exaggerating! I had to teach you a lesson!"

"WHAT LESSON? That I can´t be overprotective for once because you nearly died?! Do you have any idea of what you put me through that day?"

Twilight froze.

"It´s true that I overstepped the boundaries between us, It´s true that I have been exaggerating, but it´s only because I care about you, not only as part of my duty as your guard, but also because I care about you as a friend. Sometimes I don't see a Princess…. I just see a mare that needs my help"

Twilight remembered those nights being carried in his back to bed, the casual talks as if they were a couple, the lack of protocol, the smiles, the music, the hugs. She finally understood what he meant. Those actions were not given because of his responsibility as a guard; they were given as a genuine form of care from him to her. They were not tied to his duty; they were tied to something else.

"Maybe I've been too …. Friendly with you Princess, and since you seem… bothered by that, maybe I should leave"

Twilight looked at him, his face showing sadness.

"No…I …uummm…. I'm not bothered by that, I don't want you to leave… I´m …happy that you have been friendly with me; to be honest I like it. It´s just that…you…umm I've never had any kind of relationship with a stallion apart from my brother… I…umm…I"

Twilight was extremely nervous, she never had any kind of difficulty explaining herself, this was the first time, she couldn't find words to explain herself.

Flash took her hoof in his.

Twilight raised her head looking straight in to his eyes, in them she found the words she was looking for. Without saying anything, Flash pulled Twilight in to a hug, he wrapped his wings and rested his head on hers. Twilight heard Flash´s heart pounding in his chest, her cheeks reddened.

None of them knew what was exactly what they were doing. It was just something they felt it was right.

Flash opened his eyes, he looked at the window. Night time was present. At a certain distance a pair of glowing yellow eyes stared at him. He frowned, they were being watched.

"I think it´s time for you to rest Princess" Flash said fixing Twilight´s hair, caressing her face with his right wing.

"Good night" said Twilight.

"Good night" said Flash.

As soon as he went down the stairs he opened the door slowly. Walking ahead for a while, he lifted his head only to find the same pair of yellow glowing eyes staring at him.

"I know it's you Oni Fire" Flash said in a deep serious voice.

The eyes disappeared in a fraction of a second, and a tall gray night pony with a deep blue mane and covered in scars appeared in front of Flash.

"It´s been quite a while" Flash said frowning deeply.

"I've missed you fluffy wings, the wasteland´s threats are not that excited to fight now that I'm all by myself" said the night Pony stretching his leathery wings filled with holes.

"What do you want Oni" Flash asked

The dark stallion gazed at him with his bright yellow eyes, letting a small grin showing his sharp fangs.

"I've been sent here for you and the Princess, Princess Luna requires her in Canterlot, oh by the way, if my eyes don't trick me, you and the Princess are… quite friendly with each other right?"

"None of your business Oni Fire, now, would you care to tell me what is the reason for Princess Twilight´s presence in Canterlot"

The dark pony smiled. His eyes glowing deeply.

"War" he said.


	6. The Night Guard

Twilight made herself comfortable in her bed, wrapping herself with the light blanket she tried to sleep, every time she closed her eyes an image of Flash would appear in her head. She cursed lightly and rolled on her bed, groaning and whining. She … in a certain way had kind of confessed her feeling to him, and he had done the same, she smiled. Why was she complaining? There was absolutely no problem with having romantic feeling towards somepony, if that somepony wasn't a guard that was supposed to serve you and protect you because of your title.

It was true that her brother had been a regular guard before he became captain and that he and Cadence were romantically involved during that time, it didn't matter that she was a Princess and he a guard because they were already in a relationship before Cadence, still being an Alicorn, had started performing her role as a monarch.

Cadence met Shining Armor when she started foal sitting Twilight, She was an Alicorn at the moment, but she was still a teenager so she wasn't able to perform her duties as a princess, instead of not doing anything she became a foalsitter for anyone who needed such assistance.

Cadence and her brother had cultivated their love through years of relationship. It was different with her and Flash, she only knew him for for almost a month now, and relationships took more time than that to get to the point where it would get romantic.

She came to the conclusion that this was not love…still. Her feelings were attraction, the famous like like somepony, in other words liking somepony more than just a friend. She sighed relieved, there was absolutely nothing irrelevant with that. She was a young mare, young mares are naturally attracted to stallions that are appealing to them, it´s one of the most natural things in the world.

She closed her eyes, laughing at her own obsession over nothing she tried to sleep. Another image of Flash appeared in her head, this time it was not the same as the other ones, this image was Human Flash. Her body reacted instantly, sitting on her bed she started over thinking again.

No, there was a problem with her feelings, she knew Flash more than she had made him believe she did. She had known him before she knew the Flash that was with her now. Another Flash that in the same time was the Flash that was with her.

She couldn't help herself by thinking if she liked this stallion because he reminded her of his Human version. But then she thought, they were the same person, so she wasn't liking this stallion just because he looked like the boy. But they were so different and in the same time, they were so alike.

She looked at her hooves, remembering when they were hands she tried to feel the weird body she had when she became human. She had been herself and not herself at the same time. She knew that somewhere in that dimension there was a girl that was her in every way, maybe with some different traits, but she was still her. She hoped that version of herself would meet the Flash from that place.

She covered her face with her hooves, this was too complicated to analyze, even for her. It was the most difficult thing she had ever had to think in a scientific way, other things she had to study were much more difficult, but they did not involve her feelings towards a stallion.

Before she could hurt her brain more than she already did, Spike entered her room silently.

"Hey…are you alright? I heard a little of your fight with Flash, but I have to say he´s right…I…"

"It´s ok Spike we came to an….agreement"

Spike stared at Twilight with bright eyes and a happy face, he jumped in to Twilight's bed snuggling with her.

"You know… he really looks like the Flash we met in freaky bipedal ape land, but in the same time he doesn´t"

"I think that too Spike, but you know what…I like this Flash more"

"Yeah…me too"

Finally she started drifting to sleep.

"You know that you will have to tell him right?" Spike said in a worried voice.

She tighten her hug.

"Yes..I know"

Slowly she closed her eyes and went to sleep.

…

"What do you mean with war, who is threatening us" Flash asked, tension building up in his body. If Princess Luna had to make Oni Fire, one of the most fierce and violent guard leave his post at the borderlands of the wastelands to get him it was because something very dangerous was about to happen.

"We don't really know, all we know is that it is not something we had faced in the past, not changelings, dragons, gryphon's or any other creature we had to fight"

"And you want me to take the Princess to Canterlot, probably the main spot this enemy would try to strike?" Flash asked the night pony with certain anger in his voice.

"Just for the time being, the Princesses will move to the Crystal Empire for safety but first we need to get them all together. Princess Luna has communicated me that her, Celestia and Mi Amore Cadenza require You Princess´s presence immediately before they go to the Crystal Empire."

Flash stomped the ground with great force with his foreleg.

"I need more information Oni! I will not take her anywhere if it´s not necessary"

The night pony stared at the angry stallion with an amused look.

"Relax fluffy, I´m here fulfilling my duty as a guard. I am not letting our past affecting me right now, I suggest you to do the same"

"This is not about what happened between us"

"Oh I think you are affected by it, let it go already"

"I will never let it go" Flash said with a deadly voice. The dark stallion looked at him with tired eyes. Flash stood straight, his wings unfold and his eyes filled with resentment.

Oni sighed and closed his eyes.

"Ok whatever you say. Leaving personal stuff aside orders are orders, if you will not take the Princess willingly …" The night pony unfolded his wings, sharp fangs adorning his smile, his pupils sharpened even more. "I guess I will have to take her myself"

"Try it and you'll see what it happens" Flash prepared himself for the attack. He was not going to believe Oni´s words, he had had in the past and the consequences were brutal to him. He wasn't going to trust him anymore.

"Common fluffy wings, we both know how this is going to end, just like the last time" the dark stallion said revealing his fangs to their full length.

Flash remembered, he had to stay away of those fangs.

Oni launched himself to Flash with force, his mouth open ready to strike his neck. Flash dodged him and bucked him in the face. The night guard flinched in pain for mere seconds then he smiled again, that same demonic smile Flash remembered.

"Good kick fluffy, now… my turn" Oni tripped him with his hind leg. Flash stabilized in mid air with his wings. Oni bolted with his mouth wide open aiming for Flash´s wings, Flash, anticipating this dodged to the side, Oni snapped his jaw into thin air, Flash heard the loud snapping sound. That jaw was the main thing he needed to avoid.

"Night ponies were in simple words… a killing machine, they were designed to kill and their most deadly weapon were their fangs, those fangs contained the most deadly poison ponykind knew. One bite would paralyze your body in minutes, a second bite would drive your brain into a state of shock, and the last bite would melt your muscles and entire body in a process of hours. It was a horrible way to die, but Flash knew Oni´s intention was not to kill him; he just wanted to paralyze him. It was the bite that he was trying to avoid, Ponies of all kind do have a very strong jaw power, Night ponies had the double jaw force."

Oni twisted his neck and head bucked him, Flash flinched in pain, he had a thick skull.

"Common fluffy, I love hanging out with you again but I really have to take that princess to Canterlot" Oni said hitting Flash in the face with his front hoof. Flash stood his ground and tackled him to the floor giving the night pony a look filled with rage and burning desire to kill him.

"Ahh…memories…it was just like this when you tried to stop me from killing …Sunset Shimmer was her name?"

Flash´s mind snapped.

"SHUT UP!" Flash hit Oni with full force in the face. Oni held Flash´s hoof, twisting it he drove Flash to the floor switching places.

"Why? I thought you said you were over that matter, you do remember she was trying to kill Celestia right?" Oni placed his front hooves applying full force in to the base of Flash´s wings to hold him.

Flash grunted in Pain.

"It seems your old injury hasn't completely healed. Now that we seem to be done with our little game, I will say it one more time…. Take the princess to Canterlot with me or I'll make sure you can´t move for a week"

Suddenly a magenta bolt of magic hit the Night pony with a lot of power, sending him flying to a pile of wood.

Flash stood up heavily, he grunted in pain when folding his wings back to his body.

"Flash! Are you ok?" Twilight asked galloping full speed towards him.

"I'm ok don't worry princess" Flash said feeling Twilight´s hooves surrounding his neck in a tight hug.

The sound of the shifting of woods made Twilight tensed up, directing her horn to the dark stallion that was coming out of the pile.

"Try anything like that again and I will not hesitate in shooting another one of those at you" twilight said in a threatening voice, her horn already sparkling brightly, ready to shoot.

The night pony shook his head and snapped his neck.

"Wow, it has been a while since somepony struck me that hard, hehe, good move princess Twilight Sparkle"

"Who are you and why were you hurting my guard" asked Twilight never getting her eyes off him.

"I´m Oni Fire, a lunar guard from Princess Luna, the princesses sent me here to fetch you and your guard to Canterlot for an emergency meeting due to a new possible enemy attack."

Twilight lost concentration of her aiming.

"Enemy attack?"

"Yes princess"

"Then, why were you fighting with Flash?"

"Because we can't trust him" Flash said stepping in front of Twilight opening his wings to cover her.

"No fluffy, the right way of putting it is that YOU don´t trust me" Oni said grinning at him.

"Ok knock it off" Twilight said stepping under Flash´s wing. "If you are one of Luna´s guards, I suppose you have something that can prove it"

The night pony smiled, this princess was not some high headed pampered pony and she clearly knew how to fight, he was not going to play with her.

"There´s a saddle bag tied to that post over there, if you let me get it, I can show you"

Twilight thought for a while and then nodded. The night pony flew to the post and brought the saddle bag in his mouth. He took out a scroll sealed with Princess Celestia´s and Luna's cutie mark. Twilight gasped in surprise, the scroll was tied with a red ribbon, meaning it was an emergency.

"Why didn't you tell me you had a scroll" asked Flash never taking his eyes of him.

The dark pony smiled. "I wanted to have fun with you"

Flash gritted his teeth in anger.

Twilight took the scroll with her magic, she opened it revealing a letter directed to the night pony.

"_My most faithful guard Oni Fire. We are writing this letter to you requiring to leave your post at the borderlines with the Wastelands to attend a very serious situation. A threat of a new enemy has been revealed. This enemy is not like any other we had to face, your mission is to escort Princess Twilight Sparkle and her guard to Canterlot as soon as possible, we require her presence for an emergency meeting before we move to the Crystal Empire to discuss further decisions"_

"_PS do not overwork yourself"_

"_Princess Luna_"

Twilight looked at the royal symbol imprinted in the paper; it was Luna´s royal guard´s emblem. This was not fake; it was real and very serious.

"Let´s go inside before we wake somepony." Twilight said in a serious voice.

Flash tried to explain himself to her, but she gave him a gentle look placing her hoof in his, assuring him everything was fine.

"Come in, we have to take care of your wounds" Twilight said to both of the stallions.

Twilight made Oni wait in the living room with Spike while she took care of Flash´s wounds. She carefully applied the ice patch in his back while tending the scrapes in his face.

"Hold still, this will just sting for a moment" she said in a sweet voice.

"I'm sorry you had to see that Princess" Flash said in a low voice.

Twilight smiled; taking another Ice patch in her hooves she placed it on Flash´s cheek holding it.

"OUCH!, that hurts " the stallion complained.

Twilight giggled.

"Just tell me one thing, why weren´t you fighting seriously?" Twilight asked.

Flash gave the Alicorn a surprised look.

"How did you know we weren't fighting seriously?"

Twilight looked at him deeply and smiled.

"I just know" she simply said, resting her head against his chest.

"He used to be my best friend, even if I hate him now…I could never …" Twilight brought her hoof to Flash´s mouth covering it.

"You will tell me when you're ready" she said.

Flash smiled, he wasn't ready to remember that yet.

Twilight left his room and went down the stairs; she found the night pony reading calmly as if nothing had happened.

"Spike go take care of Flash ok?"

"But..Twilight" the baby dragon said in a worried voice.

"It´s Ok" Spike nodded and went running up the stairs.

She levitated a bucket filled with water and a towel out of the kitchen. Giving the Stallion an angry look she ordered him to stand straight and still.

"I don't need you to take care of my injuries" the dark pony said.

"Oh I will not" said Twilight placing the bucket in front of him. "Apply cold water to your burn, by tomorrow it will disappear if you do so."

The stallion looked at her confused.

"I was not burned"

Twilight pointed at his chest. The night pony looked at his chest only to find a big circular burn rights were his heart was.

He smiled; this princess was not like the others.

"Wow, you really wanted to kill me … didn't you"

Twilight levitated the towel to his chest, placing it in the burn.

"It was an accident; I didn't mean to hit you that hard, look …Oni… I know you weren't going to REALLY hurt Flash, drop your whole tough night pony thing with me, I know you two were friends"

The Dark stallion directed his gaze to the floor.

"So…he told you" Oni said in a deep hurt voice.

Twilight was surprised by his reaction, it was the first time he was displaying his true feelings. Instead of seeing a prideful crazy sadistic stallion, she saw a very hurt soul

"Whatever happened to you both is not my business. But now it´s not time to put personal things in front of other more important matters. I will go to Canterlot as you wish. We will leave tomorrow night. You can wait here, read all the books you like" Twilight said turning to face the stairs.

"One question Princess, what happened to your wings?"

Twilight stopped and looked at him over her shoulder.

"I had an accident" she said, her cheeks burning with same. Oni decided not to ask how.

Flash slept uncomfortably in his bed, his bruises sore and the ice patch in his back was to cold. Spike fell asleep in his pillow right next to his bed.

Images of that night started flowing uncontrollably in his head. Heavy armored guards, both solar and lunar were fighting a giant hydra, screams of horror, civilians running for safety. Comrades hurt, some dead lying on the ground. A friend he once knew laughing in evil. Oni Fire yelling at him to kill her.

Suddenly, he felt a small body resting against his side, opening his eyes he found Twilight resting calmly next to him.

"You seem to need company" she said in a low sweet whisper.

Flash drew her closer to him with his right wing.

"I do"


	7. Can we be more?

She woke up slowly and feeling peace inside her heart, she smiled, pressing her face close to the stallion´s chest. It was furry and warm. She could feel his heart beat, a steady and constant heart beat. It was like a soothing lullaby followed by the soft in and out of air of his lungs.

She blushed heavily; she shouldn't be enjoying this so much. That was what her brain was telling her. She started asking to herself… why was she acting like that, she never ever in the past would have even thought about sleeping with a stallion in the same bed! Why was she so light headed when she was with him, why was she always feeling weird unable to control herself, not knowing how to act or what to say. It was something so… different.

Her heart started beating faster and soon she found herself unable to rest any longer, lifting her head she studied her guard´s face. He had a peaceful look; she noticed tiny old scars resting in different parts of his face. She smiled, this was a pony that truly knew what fighting was, a guard through and through. She softly got off the bed, carefully without waking Flash she got out of the room.

With Spike already awake and cooking breakfast she was the only one awake counting him off. She didn't know what time it was but judging the sunlight coming through the window she deduced that it was around 9 am. The night pony Oni Fire was fast asleep in the same spot she left him. He looked so… tired and weak which was weird because since the first time she saw him he always had looked very strong and almost invincible. She remembered the way he fought, he looked more like a dragon, those fierce piercing yellow golden eyes, that buff built body, the leathery wings filled with tiny holes… those fangs… those deadly fangs.

But know he looked uncomfortable and sad. Using her magic she levitated his head carefully, a pillow came down the stairs floating inside her magenta magic aura, she gently placed it under his head, slowly she lowered his head on the pillow. The look in the dark stallion´s face changed to a a very tired face, but without pain.

She could see the burn mark was gone, the Night pony had followed her instructions well, giving him one last look she went in to the kitchen and greeted Spike with a soft voice.

"He looks very tired, are you sure he´s ok? I think he should go to the hospital just in case" Spike said serving Twilight her favorite oats with milk.

"He is pretty battered, even if they were not really fighting, they did hurt themselves pretty badly… but him… he looks so… tired… It´s weird."

"Flash … is he ok?" Spike asked munching a sapphire stick.

"He´s fine, he was just tired and sore but now he is sleeping fine."

"You slept next to him, wrapped in his wing… is there something you want to tell me?" Spike asked looking straight in to Twilight´s eyes.

Twilight blushed immediately. "Spike! Nothing happened… I just fell asleep next to him… it…it´s not like we… did something"

"yea I know he didn't do anything he was sleeping like a log when I fell asleep, you … you were the one who came in to his room and climbed next to him" Spike said with a big grin in his face."IIIII think somepony has a cruuuuuush" he sang in a low teasing voice.

"Spike you are a baby! You… you should not talk about these things so freely!" Twilight said trying to stay put.

He looked at her blank faced and then grinned.

"I may be a baby in dragon terms, but inside my head I am older than you think, just because my body ages slower it doesn´t mean my brain does. Besides where do you think I know all these things, you taught them to me silly and let's not forget about the romance novel´s section in the library."

"I told you those books were not for your age… you still read them?!" Twilight half yelled half whispered.

Spike just smiled.

Flash woke up feeling a little sore, he got a little sad not seeing Twilight next to him but he buckheaded himself for that thought. He was not her colfriend or something like that. He didn't have that privilege.

He could smell Twilight's scent; closing his eyes he tried to understand his feelings. He tried to read her actions. All the other moments they had together were something that was started by his actions or both of them; last night she was the one who did something he never thought she would do.

He knew that the right thing he should have done was to talk to her and explain her that such behavior was something a Princess should never do, especially with her guard. But even knowing what he should have done he knew that in that moment he was tired and sad, he needed company, what better company than a beautiful mare that smelled like fresh lavender, a mare that spoke softly to you that took care of you. Any stallion would have been a complete idiot rejecting that care.

What was he doing, he was supposed to be the best guard he could be and he was one of the finest guards in under Celestia´s reign. He was not supposed to develop romantic feelings towards the princess he was supposed to serve. But his princess was not the like the Nobel sisters. She was more like the crystal princess, she was not immortal, she aged and she was married to a regular unicorn, well not so regular. His captain was a stallion he admired, he was a couple of years older than him but he was so wise and professional in his duty. He was explained of the situation that resulted in the captain of the royal guard marrying a princess. He sighed, His situation was different. He was not going to deny his feelings for Twilight, but he didn't know how to deal with them. Falling in love was something he was scared to do again. The first time he did it resulted in a disaster that cost him friend's lives and left him with serious injuries that took a long time to heal. His wings never felt the same, neither his heart. He knew that Twilight would never hurt anyone, but his scars were too deep.

He pushed his thoughts away from his mind; he was not going to remember all those painful memories. He rose from his bed cautiously grunting from the soreness, he followed the scent of fresh carrots and oats. He was starving. He looked at Oni Fire fast asleep in the floor with half of his face buried in a pillow. His body tensed up involuntary. He ignored the stallion and entered the kitchen.

Twilight´s eyes immediately linked with his, both of them blushed in different shades of red, the adverted their eyes from each other.

"G…good morning princess" Flash said mentally cursing for stuttering, he was a stallion for Celestia´s sake!.

Twilight answered him with a smile which only made Flash blush harder; Spike was chuckling in a corner munching away gem sticks.

Flash ate his breakfast facing Twilight, they stole glances at each other, behaving like school foals at lunch time. Spike eventually got bored of the lack of conversation and left the kitchen in search for something to do.

Twilight dived her muzzle inside the boll and a piece of carrot on the tip of her nose. Flash couldn´t help but laugh. Twilight gave him a confused look that only made her look cuter, he laughed harder, when she finally noticed the carrot piece laying on the tip of her nose the smiled.

She put her hoof inside the boll lifting another carrot piece, she gave Flash a playful smile and not waiting for any type of question from him she stick it in Flash´s face. The stallion was surprised and gave Twilight a funny confused face. Twilight giggled. Flash decided to dive in the game. He took a piece of bread in his hoof and gave Twilight a playful grin. Without any warning he stabbed the bread in Twilight´s horn. The mare froze in her place; Flash regretted his action, maybe he had gone too far. That idea was soon discarded when Twilight gave him an evil playful look.

She activated her magic, levitating apples and oranges from different parts of the kitchen.

"You wanna play tough guy?... let´s play then" Twilight said.

"I guess I have no way out"

The kitchen soon turned in to a food fight ground, Twilight throwing apples, oranges and bananas at the stallion. Flash dodged most of them.

"How on Equestria can you move so fast?!" Twilight yelled at Flash.

"Royal Guard, years of training" he simply said.

Twilight felt so good, it had been a long time since the last time she had fun. Maybe that was the reason why she decided to take this situation in to a very messy state, Spike was not going to love her for this.

Soon there were no more things to throw and Flash had only received a couple of hits.

"I thought you had more in you Princess" Flash teased her.

Twilight teleported herself over Flash and landed on top of him. Flash cached her with anticipation. Both of them fell on the floor filled with squashed fruits and food.

Both ponies started laughing, Flash letting "ouches" between laughs. After some while the laughing started to turn down. Both of them sitting on their haunches, Twilight with her hooves linked around Flash's neck and Flash´s hooves in Twilight´s hips preventing both from slipping to the ground.

The two ponies were covered in food, their manes sticking to their foreheads. Their eyes looking at each other with happiness. Twilight sighed.

"I guess we did it again" Twilight said in a low voice.

"Stepping over boundaries and driving ourselves in to a situation that was never meant to be?" Flash said giving Twilight a warm smile.

"Why don´t we just let this one pass?... let´s just… ignore the fact that I´m a princess and you a guard for this time." Twilight said looking in to Flash´s eyes with a lot of intensity. Flash pressed Twilight´s body closer to his driven in to Twilight´s words. Twilight caressed Flash´s bruise on his face. He could fell her heart beating faster like his.

Even with both of them covered from head to hoof in smudged fruit and food, he still smelled Twilight´s lavender scent. It was hypnotizing, that scent, those eyes, those big and sparkly purple eyes were driving him crazy. He wanted to hug her, to hold her to…

Reality snapped his mind; he averted his gaze from Twilight pouring every single drop of reality and strength in order to gently push Twilight´s body from his.

"I´m afraid we can´t princess, I´m sorry" Said Flash hating himself from having to do that.

Twilight looked at Flash´s expression, she understood he was following his head this time, and judging by his face, he didn't like it.

Twilight lowered her hooves to the ground and gave Flash an understanding look.

"I guess we can´t you're right" Twilight said lowering her head, her gaze to the ground.

Flash pressed his hoof in Twilight´s chin lifting her head making her look at him.

"I do have feeling for you Princess, I am not going to deny that"

Twilight smiled.

"I know… But we can´t… right?"

Flash nodded painfully.

"It hurts" Twilight said.

"Like hell" Flash responded.

The only thing Twilight could do was smile, a painful sad smile. Flash felt his heart hurt.

"I´m gonna go and take a bath" Twilight said turning her body. In the last minute, she turned herself again, giving Flash a look of regret, with eyes full of tears she lifted her head giving him a quick peck on his cheek then she quickly trotted upstairs leaving Flash surprised. Flash stood there frozen staring at the door Twilight had used to leave seconds ago.

He didn't know what to do, how to act. What was he supposed to do?!. Sure in training they strictly warned you to never, ever develop romantic feelings for anyone you were supposed to protect. They did not tell you what to do when you already HAD romantic feelings neither they told you what to do if that somepony had romantic feelings for you too.

He felt so frustrated, so angry with himself he wanted to hit something hard with his hooves. The door opened reveling a gray figure. Flash immediately tensed up, he was not going to be able to stand this pony at this moment.

"I was wondering what the buck was all that noise that woke me up, I guess I get it now…. Oh, I couldn´t help to listen to your little chat, you know in my opinion I think you are over thinking this too much fluffy, common, you like her she likes you… it´s not that complicated."

"Do not talk to me like you're my friend" Flash said leaving the kitchen and directing himself through the stairs not even looking at the night pony.

The dark stallion sighed heavily and protected his eyes with his wings he went to his comfy place on the floor and rested his body.

Flash stood under the shower containing his anger, the warm water was helping but not enough. There were too many things in his head he once more followed his head and prioritized the current threat made to Canterlot. They were supposed to leave that night, when Oni was able to fly, he would had to carry Twilight since she wasn´t able to fly yet, even if her wings were healed she wouldn´t have been able to stand such long trip.

They would have to be very careful when leaving, nopony was supposed to know this, not even the rest of the elements of harmony themselves. Spike was the only one allowed to go with them.

He let out a heavy sigh and stretched his wings bathing his feathers in the hot water. Today was supposed to be the last day of normal guard routine for him, now he was heading to Canterlot for a very serious matter, the minute Oni would say go, he knew that he would not be able to step over boundaries anymore, even if his heart ached like hell, even if Twilight saddened he would have to do what he was trained to do.

There was no more time for fun and feelings, he had to get the princess to Canterot, he had to protect her with her life.


	8. White Fur

The night was fresh and clear, only small misty clouds were in the night sky, silence in all its beauty filled the air. The citizens of Ponyville were all in their beds fast asleep.

Twilight prepared her saddle bag with only super necessary stuff, a tooth brush a hair brush, mini emergency pack and a single red apple. She was worried and a little scared; her legs were shaking as she prepared her things. Her recently washed mane, still wet, calmed her with the still fresh smell of her herbal shampoo.

Downstairs Oni Fire slowly woke up to the soothing night air, his bones were hurting and his muscles sore, but the moonlight would always be gentle with his over worked body. He remembered the letter and Princess Luna's words. His devotion to the Moon Princess was pure and true. His ancestors had always lived in caves deep in the Equestrian Mountains; they called themselves night ponies, known as bat ponies in general because they were bound to the night and the moon. Born with leathery wings, poisonous fangs and night vision eyes they were compatible with the sometimes tough nightlife. Their coats and fur always remained in dark colors to camouflage. They were technically a new race, discovered 200 years after Princess Luna's banishment.

Ponies always feared them because of their dark features and natural behavior, Celestia was soon informed of this new race and soon became familiar with them, she had explained to them that the moon was not hers and that it belonged to a mare that was, at the moment sealed in it. The night Ponies chose to remain hidden in the mountains, only a few families decided to live among the daylight ponies. The night stallions soon became the royal moon guards, devoted to their unknown Princess of the night. The night ponies had always been grateful to the moon and its gifts. They knew it was also a prison for its real owner and they understood why. The moon was powerful to them, it made night ponies strong, it was vital to them and they would honor its gifts and would protect the night until the real moon bearer would rise once again.

When she did, her sister soon took her to the nearest colony in the mountains; the night ponies showed her their gratitude. They showed her scrolls, books and old paintings that proved her that her night had never been unnoticed, maybe to normal ponies, but to them…the night was vital. The night guards stood before her with total devotion presenting themselves as Luna's protectors.

The moon Princess cried of emotion, there she stood, powerless and weak from being sealed a thousand years inside her body, her once starry translucent mane was gone, her body stuck in mortal youth, she looked so weak and helpless, but the night ponies bowed to her as if she was still the powerful alicorn she once had been.

Oni Fire was there and for some time he was Luna's personal guard, teaching her how everything worked in Equestria, he shared his life with her, told her about his friends and about his love. Luna soon became the mare she once was, her mane recovered its immortal essence, her body grew and her coat darkened. She was back; the true Princess of the night was back. Soon she had no need for personal guards, for she was extremely powerful.

Oni trained her good, provided protection and friendship, he had been her guardian. Now he didn't had to be anything more that a guard to her. She was ready to face things on her own. Luna always knew about Oni's past, the things he has to live and the ponies that prevented him to be consumed by vengeance and hatred, two of them were gone and one remained with him.

Oni soon was called to defend the borderlines with the Wastelands in case the Changelings rose from their banishment, But treats to Equestria were always present, during the day, the borderlines only faced minimal threats such as exiled ponies trying to get in and confused dragons that woke up from their millennium nap… at night the REAL threats appeared. Creatures of all sorts tried to get in, each and every one with the single purpose… to take whatever revenge they held to Equestria or the Princesses.

That was Oni's job, to prevent or to kill whatever creature dared to set a foot hoof or whatever in the land. The scars in his body represented his battles with dragons, gryphon's and lots of different dangerous creatures, he had pushed his body to its limits. He had broken his wings countless times, he had flown under the sunlight burning his wings, crushed bones, cuts and more. Any wound you could imagine… Oni at some point experienced it.

Pain was something natural to him; physical pain would always shut the one he was feeling inside. He had always been the crazy one, the one with the maniacal evil grin, the one who loved to kill and fight… and it was true… he was not going to lie… But one stallion and two mares had pulled him off his darkness in to the white moonlight. He was still the same…. Only … less.

He stared at the old photograph held in his hoof, in it, four young ponies stared at him with big grins in their faces. The background showed a starry night in a meteor shower, a young orange colt linking wings with a filly of the same color, on the other side doing the same with a dark pony giving a big fanged grin. The bat pony covering a tiny white mare with his wing.

Oni sighed… those were fun days, filled with games under the stars, unforgettable friends… but now those were only distant memories. They were covered by the events that took place one hideous night, one night were he lost two friends and almost lost his love.

He heard the sound of hoofsteps coming down the stairs. Quickly shoving the photo in his saddle bag he turned his head hiding the sadness in his face. Twilight stood in front of him, levitating her saddle bag with her magic.

"It´s almost time princess; I hope that you're ready because we will not stop until we get to Canterlot"

Twilight just nodded. Oni noticed her puffy face, she had been crying, he hated crying, he had had to stand as lot of crying.

"Princess, I really don´t know what to say to you to make you feel better, I suck at these things… but the only thing I can say to you is that Flash is a really good guy, he will protect you no matter what, he may seem…strange sometimes and I will not lie to you….in part is because of me and others that had hurt him deeply… but he … has really deep feelings for you princess, I can see that, even I … can see it … and he will protect you no matter what"

Twilight listened to Oni´s words carefully, she studied the stallion´s face, he was scrunching it and frowning while talking meaning that he was doing a very difficult thing for him. When Oni finished Twilight smiled and nodded. Oni was a little bit relieved; the mare´s eyes had the same sparkle they always had.

Soon both ponies heard the heavy hoofsteps armored by golden horseshoes, the tall figure of Flash Sentry in full armor came down the stairs, the Pegasus wore a deep frown, reveling his determination and seriousness.

"Time to go Princess" he simply said.

Spike ran to Twilight giving her a hug, she hugged him tightly.

"I´ll teleport you to Canterlot when I get there ok? I would teleport myself if I could but I can only take one pony with me and it´s still very tiring." Twilight said cleaning Spike´s eyes from the tears.

The 3 ponies went outside; they walked to the woods and stopped at a clearing.

"Why don´t you wear your armor?" Twilight asked to Oni.

The bat pony smiled.

"I don´t need one anymore" he said with pride.

Flash approached Twilight lowering his body to her level.

"I´ll carry you princess, you still have to heal your wings" Twilight looked at him with watery eyes, she smiled and linked her hooves around his neck, carefully Flash surrounded Twilight´s back and hind legs lifting her from the ground.

Soon they were in mid air, Twilight covered her face on the crook of Flash´s neck, instead of feeling warmth and fur, she could only feel the cold hard metal. She watched as the town quickly became smaller from the altitude, tears started running through her eyes falling on Flash´s armor. She looked up admiring the moon, the stars and the misty clouds.

She was heading to trouble, to a possible war and far from her friends.

"I´ll fly up front so you can follow me, we will hide in the Canterlot cave palace first" Oni said quickly flying a few meters in front of them. He only did it to give them time alone.

Twilight felt the warm breeze through her mane, the silence of the night sky comforted her.

"I´m scared" she said in a whisper.

"Look at my armor Princess" Flash said in a calm steady voice.

Twilight looked at him confused then her gaze went to his chest, in the armor was incrusted her sparkle, her cutie mark, the symbol that represented his devotion to her, his princes, the symbol that represented her represented his protection, his pride… his love.

"I´m not sure I can do this without my friends" she said.

"I will be there" Flash said whispering to her ear.

Twilight hugged him tighter.

And so they flew under the night sky not speaking a single word, Twilight still hugging Flash, him whispering comforting words to her ear slowly driving her to sleep.

The sun stung her eyes, she could feel the breeze of the sunlight in her fur, the hard armor had turned from cold to warm, making it more comfortable for her to rest her head in it. She could hear Flash´s wings and Oni´s, she felt tired and calmed.

"Morning Princess, were almost there" Flash whispered in her ear.

Twilight responded tightening her hug.

"There's the cave palace, we should speed up" Oni said beating his wings in a faster pace, Flash told Twilight to hold on tight and did the same.

Twilight turned her head to face the palace. A giant cave entrance carved with intricate designs stood mighty and beautiful. They landed softly on the entrance; two guards saluted Oni with fear and respect in their eyes, Oni nodded, the guards, dressed in their dark purple armor stepped out of the entrance letting them pass. Flash lowered Twilight to the ground and the three of them started the long walk through the main hall.

One of the guards led them to Princess Luna´s main room, when the doors opened the beautiful figure of the night princess greeted them in surprise and happiness.

"I am so happy you could arrive in time, Oni there´s not enough gratitude" Luna said jumping off her throne and trotting towards them.

Twilight gave the Princess a big smile; the night mare returned the gesture with a hug, that´s when she noticed the bandages covering Twilight´s wings.

"Young one… what happened to you?!" Luna asked with a concerned expression.

"I…I kind of did a stupid thing, Flash took care of my wings, there not broken, but they need to rest" Twilight said to the Princess trying to calm her.

The moon mare quickly regained her composture. "Flash Sentry, they require you for information in the interrogation room, after you're done you can reunite with the Princess. Oni please take Princess Twilight to the star chambers, I´m sure you are eager to go there to."

"As princess Twilight´s personal guard I cannot leave her side in this matter" Flash said with full determination in his voice.

Princess Luna could see the concern in the stallion´s eyes.

"I know, but it would be better if you take care of that matter so you can fulfill your duty as a guard, It´s an order soldier, you look tired and it would be better if you just finished protocol matters now" Luna said to Flash with a deep authoritative voice.

Flash directed his eyes to Twilight asking her to go or not, Twilight smiled and nodded, Flash obeyed, bowing to the Princess of the night, he left accompanied by a night guard.

"Oni will take you to your chambers, we will prepare a personal room for you later on, during the mean time you will stay in the star chambers ok?" Luna asked.

"What about the threat made to Equestria?" Twilight asked worried.

Luna sighed. "We will discuss that later, now you need to rest."

Twilight nodded in agreement.

"Oni you´ve been flying under the sunlight for too long, I am deeply sorry for making you do that again" Luna said with full concern in her voice.

The Night pony gave her a big grin.

"You know how I am Princess, this is nothing"

Luna gently shook her head giving him a small smile.

"Come on Princess we have to go" Oni said leading the way. Twilight followed him in silence.

Oni took her through corridors filled with paintings; they passed a library the dining room and the sleeping quarters. Soon they arrived they arrived to a door, in it there were three stars carved, underneath it was read "Star Room".

Oni sighed in relief and pushed the door open. Twilight gasped amazed, a large and wide circular room, walls covered in beautiful green crystal plaques. Books and scrolls littered in different corners, on top of her head a giant dome stood covered in black curtains. In the center a magnificent telescope pointed to the ceiling, behind it a massive mountain of pillows and sheets revealed a small skinny earth pony mare reading a giant book. Her mane was messy and curly, so long that it looked like waves of snow spreading through the covers; her cote was the same snow white color, her eyelashes, long and curvy were bright pure white, her cutie mark which was three diamond stars was almost not seen, bearing the same color.

The mare heard the silence of the room being interrupted. She lifted her head towards the noise, Twilight got a little surprised by her eyes, deep soft red orbs bright and beautiful as rubies looked directly at her, then her eyes gazed at the stallion. The mare quickly stood from the ground and without any explanation, she quickly trotted towards him.

Oni wrapped her small frame with his hooves, nuzzling her hair; he closed his eyes breathing her missed scent. The mare wrapped her hooves around his neck, holding him tightly, they shared a small kiss.

"I missed you so much! are you ok? You don´t have any new injuries don´t you?" the white mare started asking to the stallion.

"I´m fine, I´m fine… geez stop being so worried"

"You have a fever… you´ve been flying under the sunlight again…haven't you?" the mare said frowning at Oni. "For the love of the moon, when are you going to learn!" she said quickly shoving a cold towel to Oni´s forehead, the bat pony smiled defeated and rested o top of the covers.

"Forgive me Princess, my name is White Fur, I´m the star reader, I´ve been informed of the situation, you will be staying with me until they finish preparing a room for you, since the hole castle is designed for night ponies, preparing a room for a daylight pony will take some time" she said to Twilight while covering Oni with a light blanket, the stallion finally dropped his tough exterior giving in to fatigue.

"But…aren't you a daylight pony to?" Twilight asked.

White Fur smiled. "Yes technically I am, but I´m albino… so the sun kind of hurts me, that is why since a filly I´ve been living under the moon light"

"Oh, I just thought you were naturally white" Twilight said.

"Everypony thinks that the first time they meet me" White Fur said with a happy face. "Take a seat anywhere you like, I can prepare a sofa for you to, there's mushy comfy pillows in every corner just pick a place and make yourself comfortable. Oh! If you like to read there are plenty of books here for your use, although most of them are about astrology, the food can be ordered anytime you want, I have apples here but if you like something else, feel free to ask."

White Fur´s personality calmed Twilight, the tiny skinny mare gave her a lovely smile adorned by those amazing ruby eyes. White Fur laid next to Oni resting her face next to his, Oni smiled and pushed his face closer to hers. Twilight smiled at the cute display of affection. The scary fierce looking night pony with demon eyes had a lovely caring mare. Without wanting to spoil the moment she silently trotted to a pillow in a far corner, levitating a random book and an apple, she sat on the pillow in silence waiting for her guard.

She could hear low whispers from the couple laying on the covers, they were talking to each other about their life's, how much they had missed each other and other things. They sounded happy.

Twilight concentrated on her book, ignoring the whispers, she smiled sadly, for she wanted the same. She took a bite of the apple, it was delicious.


	9. READ THIS please

Guys I just wanted to say thank you for the beautiful comments and views in my story. I know Flashlight is something that most bronies do not like and it´s kind of tricky to write about this couple since we don´t know much about Flash.

Creating an entire past for Flash Sentry was hard but fun. Linking his past with my OC´s was tricky to. But it worked right? XD.

I just can´t thank you enough guys. The support, the messages, the comments. LOL this story was supposed to be just something to fool around, because I fell in love with this character so much. I mean … yea he´s the typical goodie toe shoes rocker guy with a giant cliché in his face. But what about the pony version…. I mean he is FREACKING ROYAL GUARD! Do you realize how much potential for stories that gives? I just let my imagination fly.

I am so happy with the results. You guys are amazing, For you this little One shot turned in to a full story that apparently a LOT of people like…. Seeing how many views this has….. Kind of makes want to cry of happiness.

I would like to apologize again for the mistakes; I am not a native English speaker. Spanish being my first language I work really hard in the chapters and in the story adding more elaborated words to it.

Any way guys just wanted to say THANKS….A LOT.

Ok now the bad stuff… I have been fighting a terrible flew since last weekend and I am feeling everyday worst and worst… and since I still have to go to work I have little time to rest… so no chapter this week guys SORRY.

Next week chapter 9 without excuses, even if I´m sick I will post it… just give me this weekend free to rest a little guys.

Remember I have a Deviantart account, you can find little scenes of my fanfic that I drew, also some other drawings I did. Feel free to take a peek! XD.

Also latter in September or October I will start posting videos related to pony things!.

But right know what you can do is leave me questions in the comment section and I will record my answers and post it on youtube.

My channel is dragonlover759. If you can´t find it do not worry I will post the link in my Deviantart and here to.

You guys are amaizing. LOVE U ALL!


	10. Dark Past

"We are supposed to sleep right now and all we did is talk about mindless things the entire morning" White Fur murmured with her face buried in Oni´s chest.

"My wings are killing me and my legs feel weird" Oni said totally ignoring the fact that he had to sleep.

"I´m going to get you a soft cold towel for your wings, they are burning with fever" the beautiful white mare lifted her head from his chest, her mane brushing his face, his sensitive nose picking her hypnotic scent.

"Is she awake? I miss her so much" he asked her, lifting his head a little so his voice would come louder.

White Fur shooked her head, quickly reassuring him that she was going to be awake in a few minutes. He directed his attention to the purple mare sitting far away from where he was.

"Don´t get so nervous princess, he will be back in a second, he just has to deliver his report and leave his armor with the blacksmith the bat pony tried to give her a relaxing tone"

"I am not nervous! Not at all! What makes you think that I´m nervous?" Twilight gave him a weird smile.

The tired dark pony gave her a big sigh.

"You are scared and nervous because you are all alone in a weird room inside a mountain´s cave, the only pony that acts as a support to your… sanity is away from you right now…. And besides you're tapping your front hoof against the pillow in a nervous tick tick tick, it´s driving my ears insane"

Twilight realized this and immediately stopped.

"She… she seems to really care about you" Twilight said, trying to change the subject.

"You mean Fur? Well yea… she´s my marefriend"

"She seems to be… more than that" Twilight said recalling in her mind the way her face lighted when she saw him.

"She and I have a looooong history, we grew up together, we only had each other and in some way… we still do only have each other"

"It must have been very difficult… really you only had each other?... no pony else?" Twilight gave him a concerned look.

Oni smiled; at least she was not nervous anymore.

"If I tell you a story, you´ll calm down?"

Twilight smiled, standing up and trotting closer to him, she levitated the big mushy pillow and sat close to the big pile of pillows and blankets. Oni snorted; she had an exited foal´s expression in her face.

He moved his head in a weird angle making a snapping sound, letting out a heavy tired sigh and he proceeded with his story.

"Well… if I´m going to tell you the whooooole story I better start from the very very first start, I should probably start with my birth. I was born in the heart of the Everfree forest, my mother was a healer and my father was a hunter, what I mean by healer is that she drained her poison from her fangs and mixed it with herbs and flowers to turn it in to medicine. My father hunted pray for the merchants to sell, we were happy and lived a very simple life… well, when the timberwolves and greedy dragons were not trying to kill us it was a pretty good life.

During that time, night ponies were still not very sure about letting equestrian know of their existence, my parents were very careful to not reveal themselves to the daylight ponies. Some of them saw us like monsters in pony form so they preferred to stay hidden. I never asked anything about this… I kind of knew already.

One day a royal guard crashed near our cave, he looked like a pile of bloody meat and feathers, he was so injured that it was amazing he was still breathing, my parents had a good pure heart and dragged him to our home, my mom worked night and day hurting her fangs from draining them without rest my dad had to bite him several times to make him not feel the pain. I remembered his armor, golden and bright, it hurt my eyes. After several weeks of coma, one day while I was sleeping and my parents were guarding him, he opened his eyes. My parents told me that he was confused and scared and needed a few minutes to regain all his senses, when he understood where he was and who they were, he calmed down and told a dark and twisted story about an attempt to attack Canterlot from a terrorist gryphon group. Celestia herself had to deal with them; apparently the whole battle had happened right over the Everfree forest.

The guard told us his name was Free Cloud, he was friendly and a gentle speaker, he told us everything we didn't know about Canterlot and the Daylight ponies. Hr told us that things were different for the bat ponies in the capital, that Canterlot ponies were different, and that they knew that we were not monsters or demons. My parents doubted… still. Cloud Free stayed with us for a long time, his body was fine, but he had to recover from all the poison my father had injected in his body, his feathers had to grow back so he stayed with us until they did.

It was fun to have another pony with us, he told me stories about being a guard and taught me how to use a spear, my father tried to learn to but he never got a handle of it. I called him Uncle Free and he was like a big brother to me. He tried to help in every way he could, he even tried to hunt some prey with my dad, but he never could bite anything. I was sad when he got all his feathers back. It had been almost a year, my parents were emotional too, it was our first friend that was not like us, the living proof that there were day ponies that did not see us as monsters, but now he had to leave.

He begged us to go with him, and my parents still said no, frankly I wanted to go, I desired to see a different world I wanted to meet more day ponies and go to school and more, but I also understood that my parents were needed here, the merchants depended so much on them so with tears in their eyes, they said no.

Free Cloud accepted the response, he promised he would visit, I was happy, I was going to see him again, my parents were happy to.

Years went by and I grew stronger, I was able to produce venom of my own and my fangs were strong and steady to bite through stone, there was one problem with my poison though, it was… too strong, that´s my talent actually… If I let my poison have direct contact with the air it bursts in to fire, toxic deadly slimy fire, so … I could not kill anything, it made the meat to toxic to sell

Two years after Free Cloud, we were visited again… but this time they were not friendly…. About 15 stallions and mares dressed in golden cloaks, earth ponies, unicorns and pegasi carrying spears and weapons of all kind.

My parents were patient and talked to them, friendly and all, they stared at my father with an repulsive stare as he talked to them, my mom kept me behind her at all times. I noticed that a particular mare looked at my father´s fangs as he spoke. The look in her eyes, the hatred, I could feel it, sense her rage and hatred through her scent."

"_We are the order of light, devoted to the day and the sun. Regardless of Celestia´s desires and will, we act alone only obeying the sun´s will. You are creatures that defy the natural order and nature of the light. We are here to accuse you of altering the balance of order, for you, are simply a result of mutation and impurity of the darkness of the night. Prepare to be exterminated"_

"That was all the mare spoke before the whole group raised their weapons against us, my mother quickly protected me, and my father rose from the ground in fierce battle against the pegasi. I remember my mother telling me to run, I was petrified, I was watching how the spears and swords were cutting my Dad as he snapped his jaws and crushed skulls. When I heard my father telling my mother to run I saw his face, he knew he was going to die; they were too many for him to handle. The look in his eyes, when he looked at me, he was saying good bye, my mom grabbed me and trotted to the forest, I shouted, kicked and begged my mom to stop, I didn't want to leave my father alone but my mother kept running

I could hear the heavy hoofsteps quickly following us, my mom needed to reach a clear space for her to fly, she never could, we got trapped in the deep forest by those monsters, my mom did all she could to keep them away from me, soon they grabbed her and she was not able to defend herself anymore. … I had watched my parents die in front of my eyes, beaten, cut and burned by daylight ponies as if they were monsters. I just stood there, I was not able to do anything, I had done….nothing. I saw the same mare stepping over my mom´s body, eyeing me as if I were vermin. …. I just snapped, I did not feel anything I did not see anything, I just felt my mind slip in to nowhere. I think you can pretty much guess what happened next.

I went completely blind in all my sanity letting my instincts take control over my body and completely exterminated what was left of those ponies. I guess I fainted of exhaustion when all was over. When I woke up, I was covered in blood and my mouth filled with the metallic flavor of fresh blood, I could feel tore muscle trapped in my teeth. It took me a moment to realize what I had done. I did not feel bad about it.

I lost the will of living and just stayed next to my mother´s body without saying a word, many times I wanted to look for my father, maybe he was still alive, then I realized that was not possible, since I didn't want to move anymore I stopped having those hopes. As the days went by I felt my body slowly slipping away I laid there in the sun, cold and rain.

One day, I felt a breeze in my face; I opened my eyes and saw something I did not recognize anymore. It was a Pegasus stallion I found familiar, he had a desperate look in his face, he yelled my name over and over, I felt his wings lifting me off the ground, his tears falling over my face.

The next time I woke up, I was strapped to a bed with cables and needles connected to my body, the same stallion sat next to my bed begging me for forgiveness over and over. I realized then, that he was Free Cloud, looking older and with a few new scars.

Well…. Long story short I stayed in Canterlot Hospital for a long time, after my wounds healed I stayed in the mental wing, for a long long long time. I was not good in the head, and I will never be fully… sane.

There was not much for me to do in Canterlot. So I joined the Lunar guards in the beginning just because it was the only way to feel… home in some way. I stayed in the orphanage when the doctors said I was stable enough. I didn't talk to any pony, there were a lot of them who tried to talk to me and be friendly, there were others who mocked me and made fun of me, let´s just say that after meeting me, they never did that again

Uncle Free Cloud visited me a lot, almost every day after his shift ended, that was my only joy, he played with me and bought me toys and stuff, I told him about the training and how school was, the moments I spent with him were the moments I could forget about the emptiness inside of me.

I never asked who the ponies that killed my parents were, frankly I didn't want to know any more of them, I just wanted to forget everything from my past. I remember the day Uncle Free came with something on his back, it was tiny and white all over, trembling in fear."

"_Oni, this is my daughter White Fur, I brought her today because she was feeling well enough to come and meet you, she is not a night pony like you, but she sleeps during the day, I was hoping you two could be friends _"

"I still remember when that little fur ball with a messy curly mane came down his back, the moment she looked at my eyes, shaking terrified, she stared at me for a second and she stopped shaking, then she gave the most beautiful smile I ever seen.''

"It was fun to have her around, she was a… light for my soul, I didn't feel out of place, I had a friend that could play with me, and that could understand the same connection I had with the moon. She stayed a lot of days with me, we used to sneak out of the orphanage and play under the stars in the Canterlot Gardens. In one of those nights, I told her about my parents and I showed her what I was able to do with my venom, she didn't seem to be surprised and that´s where I knew everything about the…"

"Order of light" Said a gentle mare voice. White Fur entered the star room with a big cool sheet. Oni lifted his head giving her a smile she unfolded the sheet and placed it over his wings. Oni let out a purr in pleasure.

"The Order of Light was a rebel group of ponies that ignored Princess Celestia´s will, they did not acknowledge her as a ruler, they saw the sun as something that was not meant to be under Celestia´s power. Taking their morals and way of thinking to an extreme level, they decided to … purify… whatever creature was bounded to the moonlight, for them, the night and darkness were something that was entirely evil. Night ponies and other creatures of the night were under their radar. They exterminated and killed every single night creature they encountered. They showed no mercy with ponies or others creatures who helped them, my parents were ponies that served Celestia and shared her thoughts and dreams; sadly, my mother shared my condition and had a very delicate health so she passed away. My father not wanting me to end up the same way turned me in to a nocturnal pony to keep me away from the sunlight. The Order of Light saw this as an attempt to turn me in to a night creature and labeled my father. When they discovered that my father visited Oni at the orphanage they decided to take measures. After attempting to attack my father they set Celestia´s eyes on them by accident. Sadly in one of those attempts they injured my dad to badly, he died of the accumulation of internal damage a few years later."

"So from then on we lived together in the orphanage until we were old enough to live in the moon palace, Fur here learned her talent and got her cutie mark and I completed my training becoming a royal lunar guard. When we got old we realized we were in love with each other and… here we are" Oni said shorting up the story.

Twilight had listened to the whole story in complete silence, not interrupting, not even letting out any kind of noise showing her emotional state. These two had gone through a lot. She cleared her throat and shifted in her pillow.

"What happened to the rebel group?" she dared to ask.

"Got caught and all the members were executed, the night ponies were to angry and disobeyed Celestia´s rule of no killing." Oni said in a dry voice.

"Wait wait; were does Flash end up in all this?" Twilight asked "he was your friend right?"

"How does she know about Flash?" White Fur asked in a high pitched voice.

"He´s her personal Guard"

"And when were you going to tell me that you met Flash again?!"

"Soon" Oni said shortly. White Fur gave him a scowl.

"We met Flash in one of our escapades from the orphanage; he was living in the royal guard´s quarters so we played in the Canterlot gardens every time we could." Oni told Twilight in a rather short and dry way. Twilight knew he was trying to avoid that part of their story. White Fur stared at the floor the whole time Oni spoke. Twilight knew that asking more of this was not proper, but she wanted to know why Flash was so distant and resentful every time he talked to Oni.

"What happened, why are you not friends anymore?"

Twilight looked at Oni´s eyes with full intensity, he held her stare for a second and then he looked at White Fur, she nodded.

"He had a very close friend, almost a marefriend. But she was corrupted by her own darkness. I…I tried to keep her away from him, but it was too late, she did something terrible, unforgivable, he didn't want to accept the fact that she was evil, so I forced him away from her and hurt him in the process. He never forgave me for that"

Twilight´s eyes widened.

"What was her name?" Twilight felt her voice shaky. She feared for THAT name.

Oni again looked at White Fur for approval, when she nodded, he opened his mouth and before he could say anything the door opened and shut in a quick move. Revealing a tired Flash Sentry once again stripped of his armor.

White Fur rose from the covers and stared at him. Flash lifted his gaze to her.

"Nice to see you again Fur" he said giving her an awkward sad smile.

"Oh you stupid hay headed jerk" she said trotting towards him and hugging him tightly.

Flash flinched a little but hugged her back.

"The moon gang is complete again" Oni said in a whisper Twilight accidentally herd.

"Mama I´m thirsty" a cute tiny voice filled the room. Twilight turned her head towards the source of that cute sleepy voice. A tiny young filly with a light blueberry coat and a short spiky mane stood next to a small door her eyes were a beautiful shade of strong pink in the center a slit pupil tainted in fuchsia revealed her night pony blood. Pair of lavender night pony wings were stretched out from her tiny frame to support her balance, tiny white fangs adorning her cute little mouth.

"Good morning honey I want you to come over here, there is somepony I would like you to meet."

The tiny filly tilted her head to see the orange stallion standing next to her mother, her eyes went wide and her face lighted with a smile.

"You're Uncle Flash?! Wow you're tall!... you look a lot smaller in the pictures!" The young filly trotted rather funny towards Flash.

The orange stallion stared at the tiny figure quickly approaching him completely speechless, the look in his face was one of a complete surprise, White Fur stared at him eager to see his full reaction.

"Papa always tells me about when you and him and Mama played together, is it true that Papa is faster than you?"

The tiny pony stared at Flash with admiration. Flash hesitated for a second and then answered.

"Heck he´s not, he´s always been a slowpoke" his voice came out a bit too loud. The filly laughed.

Soon she picked her father's scent and directed her gaze to the pillow/sheets mountain.

"PAPA! Papa papa papa! The filly jumped in the air and awkwardly flew over the pile of pillows and sheets. Oni fire lay on his back and the filly landed on his belly.

"I´ve missed you furry ball! Tell me, have you been obeying your mother?" Oni asked her with a false authoritative voice.

"Yes papa!" the filly answered proud of herself.

"That's my girl" Oni said ruffling her mane.

White Fur chortled at Flash´s and Twilight´s faces.

"Her name is Moon Rose, she´s our daughter, she may look like a bat pony but she sleeps during the night, apparently she woke up a little early today"

Flash stared at the scene in front of him, they had a filly, a daughter, and they had a family and were happy. He wanted to hate Oni, he really wanted to, but this young filly now prevented him to do so.

Moon Rose stared at Twilight and then smiled.

"Mama… who´s the pretty pony?" she asked innocently.

Twilight blushed.

"She´s Princess Twilight Sparkle moon pie, she will be staying with us for a while"

The Filly´s face lighted up again her cheeks blushed with excitement.

"WOOOOOW a real Princess in my house, cool!" she jumped of her father and ran towards Twilight.

Moon Rose started to run in circles around Twilight, that´s when she saw the bandages. With a deeply concerned face she looked at her in the eyes.

"What happened to you?" she said in a cute worried voice.

Twilight tried to calm her.

"It´s nothing, I wanted to learn how to fly quickly and I didn't listen to my teacher so I hurt myself a little but it will heal in no time. I´m fine don´t worry"

The filly smiled at her, with big bright pink eyes she said in a high pitched voice.

"I can fix that!"

White Fur placed a hoof on her Daughter's back.

"Now now love, I don´t think the Princess would like that"

"But she will be all better"

Twilight smiled. The cute little filly really wanted to help.

"I´m sorry princess, you see, she has healing powers in her venom so she wants to help every time she can, but I think that being bitten is the least thing you would want."

"It´s just a pinch I promise!" Moon Rose said.

Twilight smiled at her.

"I guess it wouldn´t hurt to try" Twilight said feeling a little nervous.

"Are you sure Princess?" Flash asked her.

"Well, it is a little scary, but so are needles, it´s better if a get well sooner don´t you think?" Twilight said while working her magic on the bandages revealing her wings, her feathers were messy and needed to be groomed.

"Well if the Princess is ok with it, then I don´t see any problem." White Fur said to her daughter, letting her hoof in the ground again.

Moon Rose approached Twilight with a big smile.

"Were can I bite you?" she asked politely.

Twilight thought for a moment and then extended her front hoof.

The filly inserted her tiny sharp fangs in to Twilight´s skin; she could feel a burning liquid cool and thick invade her body. It was a weird sensation, like if she was given a penicillin shot again.

When Moon Rose backed away a little, she soon started to feel the effect of her venom. Her wings started to feel weird, not weird bad, weird good. Then she unfolded them to their full length, she stretched them, flapped them and moved them to every possible angle. They didn't hurt, they didn't feel hard and uncomfortable, Twilight smiled.

"Thank you!" she said to the filly.

Moon Rose smiled licking Twilight´s blood of her fangs.

"Your blood is really yummy Princess!" she said in joy.

Oni broke in laughter, White Fur blushed in embarrassment. Flash just smiled.

"Em…thanks?" Twilight answered a feeling a little weird.


	11. READ PLEASE!

Guys I hate doing this to you again. But I am going to take a small undefined break… the reason… I will be making a video. There will be a special guest involved and It will take a while to get everything done. PLEAAAASE UNDERSTAND. This video will be for you and just for you guys. Who have been so supportive and awesome with all related to my story and my drawings.


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